This started out as an attempt to find a LIVE version of the classic 70’s song “Signs” by the Five Man Electric Band back in the day, and ended up with me only being able to find the original recording of that song (which is still great, by the way) as well as dozens of cover versions over the years, most notably by the band Tesla. So, why not give you both and let you decide which you like best? First a little bit of the background on the song.

“Signs” is sung by the Canadian group, Five Man Electrical Band, and was written by the band’s frontman, Les Emmerson and helped popularized the relatively unknown band. It was part of their second album, Good-byes and Butterflies, which was released in 1970. Ironically, “Signs” was originally released that year as the B-side to the unsuccessful FMEB single “Hello Melinda Goodbye”  and re-released in 1971 as the A-side single. “Signs” eventually No. 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, became a gold record, with Billboard eventually ranking it as the No. 24 song for the full year of 1971.

Here’s the original version of the song by the Five Man Electric Band from 1971.

And the official Tesla music video from 1990, LIVE at The Trocadero.